Mario Balotelli racially abused by Italy fans

18/11/2010

Manchester City forward Mario Balotelli was racially abused by his own fans while playing for Italy last night, in yet another episode of black players taking abuse from Italian crowds.

Balotelli, who was born in Sicily to two Ghanaian parents and raised by Italians in the northern town of Brescia, who was making his second appearance for Italy, heard fans chanting ‘non ci sono negri italiani’, which charmingly translates as ‘there are no n****r Italians’, while they unfurled a banner which read ‘no to an a multi-ethnic national team.’ The culprits were a group of neo-fascists who follow Italy away from home, who have a terrible problem with the idea of a black Italian.

‘Honestly, I don't know what to say,’ said the City forward. ‘If I have to hear those chants every time, you can't go forward like that. I leave others to do the judgment. I am happy to be in the national team.

‘It wouldn't be right to stop a game because a few fans that turn up to the stadium behave like that. We need to change these people but it's not me that has to do it. Where I live, the people don't think like these people. A multi-ethnic Italy already exists and we can do better.’